HEAT EXCHANGER CORE METHOD AND APPARATUS

摘要

A machine and method for corrugating preformed plates that form the core element (50) of a heat exchanger (10). A fold forming mechanism (112) imparts an initial fold in the deformable links (28, 30) joining a series of preformed plates received from an external source. A gathering mechanism (132, 134) gathers the folded series of preformed plates to produce a flow of pairs of mating plates (140). Precut lengths of corrugated fins (45) are then inserted between joined adjacent pairs of mating plates (140) and a cut-off mechanism (156) severs the deformable links (28, 30) of preselected pairs of links joining pairs of mating plates to separate individual core elements (50) from the flow of plates (40).